Baby first, golf second for distracted McIlroy

LOS ANGELES • Before the three-month coronavirus-enforced shutdown of the PGA Tour, Rory McIlroy was close to his very best - back at world No. 1 after six consecutive top-five finishes, including a WGC victory in Shanghai.

Since the restart in June, his struggles with only two top-15 finishes in eight starts had seemed inexplicable until now.

During the BMW Championship last weekend, the Northern Irishman revealed why his mind may have been elsewhere.

McIlroy and wife Erica Stoll are expecting the birth of their first child, a girl, any day now.

"I think from the get-go, my mind has been wandering the last few weeks, and now you guys sort of know the reason why," said the four-time Major winner.

"I didn't think it was something that I really particularly needed to share out there.

"It's a private matter, but we're really excited and can't wait for her to get here.

"You're going out to play and maybe not knowing whether you're going to finish the round or not.

"Look, it's definitely not an excuse. I just haven't played well enough.

"But again, I keep talking about perspective. If you do play bad, I've got some awesome stuff coming up on the horizon, which is really cool, and it makes the bad days a lot easier to handle."

He still intends to defend his Tour Championship, which starts on Friday, and the FedExCup crown at East Lake in Atlanta, but will not hesitate to jump on a plane if he gets a call.

"I'd be out of here. I'm going to play in many more Tour Championships and it's only going to be the birth of your first child once."

The 31-year-old met American Stoll when she was working for the PGA of America and after dating for two years, they married in a lavish reception at Ashworth Castle in County Mayo, Ireland, in 2017.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE